Chronological device



CHRONOLOG I CAL DEV I C Filed July 25, 1936 Patented Dec. 28, 1937 UNTD STATES ATEN'E' OFFICE In Great Britain 3 Claims.

The object of this invention is to provide means for the more eiective use of my patented chronological device No. 1,832,342 when issued in clock form; and in particular to enable it to show continuously the exact time to the minutest subdivision desired throughout the world on both land and sea. A further object is to obviate all need for altering the clock on the shift to and from summertime or any arbitrarily adopted hour.

In order to obviate the necessity for altering the clock on the shift from standard to summertime or daylight saving time and vice versa, it may be provided that the chart on which the time dial revolves may bear the names of places adopting diiferent times at dierent periods of the year repeated in distinctive lettering, or other- Wise distinguished, on the alternative meridians they adopt. Thus, while Englands time would during its observance of standard time be that of meridian 0, during summertimes observance it would be that of meridian 15 E. Hence, aclock designed as mentioned above would need no alteration on the shift to summertime and vice versa, nor on ship noi' air services nor on the passage from one land to another, but would always show, without change, the exact and relative times throughout the world.

To facilitate reading, any desired differentiation in the form of the meridians may be employed for directing attention to any particular meridian, as, for example, the meridians of the places the user may generally be in, or of the place or places with which the user may most frequently desire to communicate. rThus, an emphasized meridian could point to the hour observed in England during its observance of standard time, and a skeleton meridian could point to the hour during summertimes observance.

It will be well understood that any form of mechanism (e. g. electrical or lever clockwork) may be employed for driving the dial or time ring. A simple mechanism expressly designed for this purpose comprises the ordinary revolving electrical mechanism, or spring drum with escapement control, from which the dial or time ring is revolved by friction drive, the supplementary hand or hands being operatively connected to the time dial through gearing of appropriate ratio.

One constructional embodiment of the invention is shown, by way of example only, on the accompanying sheet of drawings, wherecn:-

Fig. 1 is a view of a chart and time dial of the type covered by my Patent No. 1,832,342, indicat- June 14, 1934 ing in this particular design the supplementary hand cooperatively movable over a supplementary dial li bearing minute graduations, and also the further additions referred t0.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of part of the 5 mechanism for continuously rotating the hour dial 3 and minute hand I0.

Referring to the drawing:-

The primary chart member l is arranged in front of any convenient, power, driving mecha- 10 nism, part of which is indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 2. This mechanism may be electrically or otherwise conveniently actuated; in its illustrated form, it comprises a spring drum 4, which is arranged to make one complete revolu- 15 tion once in every twenty-four hours and which, by means of gearing 5 and 6, is adapted to rotate a shaft l once in every hour. A primary time dial or ring 8, provided with time graduations representing all hours of the day and the night, is mounted on the shaft 9 of the spring drum. As shown in Fig. l, the dial 8 is arranged in front of the primary chart member, with its centre coincident with the focal or center point 3. From this centre point 3 radiate meridian lines 25 i5 representing time meridians, instead of geographical meridians. As the dial 8 turns, therefore, the time at all places on the chart will be automatically indicated when it correctly indicates the time at any particular place.

rThe shaft 'l projects forwardly through the primary chart member i and is provided with a supplementary hand It, which is adapted to be rotated in front of a supplementary chart, in the form of a ring i l, divided into 60 graduations each 35 of which represents one minute of time, and which may be either provided on the chart or on a dial aiiixed thereto. By such rotation of a supplementary hand lil, in cooperation with the supplementary ring chart Il, in relation to the 40 revolving dial and chart of Patent 1,832,342, the exact time to a minute throughout the world can be indicated by this single hand.

The time dial B and the supplementary hand or hands or other members IE are thus revolved simultaneously in timed relation. The hand I0 does not, however, perform the same function as the minute-hand of an ordinary clock, for there is no revolving hour-aand for cooperation therewith. Its revolutions are coordinated with the revolving time dial or ring 8, the latter being coordinated with a chart of the world, the meridians i5 of which, however, are represented in terms of its time, instead of its geography. The signal advantage of this method of recording exact standard times to a minute throughout the world would nevertheless be shown, if the time dial or ring, during its one revolution in 24 hours, were made, by gearing, tojrevolve a ininute-hand around a circle of 6G graduations once in an hour, because it would then show the exact number of minutes past each standard hour everywhere. Furthermore, if additional hands were not desired, the exact standard time to a second throughout the worldcouldrstill be indicated by a single hand. For were, say, -minute divisions of time marked on the time dial or ring t, the hand it could be made by gearing to revolve once in 5 minutes round a 5-minute circle on the ring chart li with the seconds marked in between.

Numeral l2 snows how the further new feature, the duplication of names, such as that of Great Britain, in distinctive lettering or colouring on any alternative meridian of time a country may periodically adopt, makes needless any alteration of the clock on a shift to or from summertime or any other adopted hour. For, since the world is charted not on its geographical, but on its time meridians, the dial, without change, shows the different hour at the new time meridian on which the duplicate name appears. Thus, Englands time during summertimes observance is merely read at meridian 15 E., instead of at meridian 0.

rihe further featureconsisting of the shaded or tinted or other distinctively marked area or ,belt it will show how sea times may be indicated by the provision of an exclusive area in anydesired position, marked not only with the names oi the seas, but also with the solar degrees of longitude, to make instantly apparent not only standard but also the mean solar times of ships at sea. These solar degrees of longitude Yare shown in the shaded belt on the circumference of the chart bearing the names of the seas.

The position of such belt may, of course, be varied. i

designations Holland +20 and Newfoundland, +29 will be understood when it is reflected that the spear head of the minutes hand lo points, at any moment, to the number of Vminutes it is pastreach standard hour everywhere. As the time of Holland and Newfoundland is in advance Yof that of their nearest standard meridians, the respective ngures +20 and +29 show the number of minutes that must be added to the reading of the hand to show the time at these particular places. The people Y of Holiand, for example, prefer to observe the solar time of their capital, instead of the standard time of the time zone in which their country is positioned. Just to the right of the Zero time meridian l5, therefore, the primary chart member i contains a separate time meridian, upon which is chartedV Holland +20. And since the revolving dial 8 does not carry such small subdivisions of time as minutes, and it mightY therefore be difficult to gauge from it Hollands time to an exact minute, +2 is added to the na1-e toishow that its exact minute at any moment, is 20 in advance of the reading of the hand.

The primary chart member l contains other such time meridians, different from the standard time according to Zones, but corresponding to times adopted by particular localities; and such other times are not necessarily local mean solar times. Reference may be made, for example, not only to the special time meridians associated with Holland, +26 and Newfoundland +29, butY also Venezuela, between ti e Li-degree and the -degree time meridians. In allcases, the present invention makes it possible to read the exact adopted time observed. by everybody in the world, and this whether the adopted time is standard, solar,daylight-saving, or any other individual time; in all cases, in manufacturing the chart, the nameY of the country or place in which the observer or user of the chart is located is placed opposite, i. e., in line with the meridian of the particular time adopted byrsuch observer. These figures +20 and +29 are not strictly necessary; for the time divisions on the dial show, for xample, that, when it is noon on the Greenwich meridian, it is 20 minutes past noon in Holland; but by stating the number of minutes to be added to the reading of thevspear head of the minutes hand lil in half a dozen exceptional and particular cases, it saves one the trouble of referring tothe time divisions on the dial.

Though theY said spear head of the minutes hand lil shows the number of minutes past the hours, or to the nearest hour, of all places observing standard or adopted time, furthermore, its reverse end shows the number of minutes past the hour in all places, like india, the noon of which lies midway between the standard meridians. When, for example, it is exactly 5 p. m. inV Western Siberia, Vthe reverse end of the minutes hand automatically shows that it is 5 30 p. m. in India, and when it is l5 minutes past 5 in Western Siberia, the reverse end of the minutes hand automatically shows it is 5:45 p. in. in India.

The additional feature consisting ofY an asterisk lll at the point of midnight on the dial, indicates at what point the new day is commencing in its sweep round the world, and marks olf in the anti-clockwise revolution of the dial, the area of the old day from the area of the new.

The further feature of differentiated meridians l5 or 30 illustrates a means of "naking more prominent the particular time area the user may be in, or in frequent. communication with, or in diiferentiating between the different times adopted by countries at different periods of the year. The meridian 15 may correspond to solar time and the meridian 30 to daylight-saving time for the same countries.

Numeral it shows how by the addition of the word noon in'conjunction with a curved arrow, the position of Vnoon and the direction of its rotation are made more immediately apparent,

Vthus indicating Vat any morir which places Ymore easilyV distinguishable, to facilitate reading.

The dial may be shaded at l to indicate the hours, usually of darkness, between 6 oclock 4 any instant, in terms of hours and fractions of an hour, corresponding to al1 places marked on the primary chart member, a supplementary chart, a supplementary member cooperative with the supplementary chart, the supplementary chart being provided with graduations to indicat/e minuter divisions of time than can be conveniently indicated'by the primary dial member on the primary chart member, and means connecting the supplementary member with the movingmeans to cause the supplementary member to be moved continuously in the clock-wise direction over the supplementary chart in timed relation to the movement of the primary dial 15 member, whereby the supplementary member will indicate on the supplementary chart minuter divisions of time after the hour indicated by the primary dial member on the primary chart member to indicate the said adopted time throughout the world to a small fraction of time.

8. A chronological device as specified in claim 6 in which the supplementary member Aextends across the entire diameter of the supplementary chart, whereby, when one end of the supplementary member shows minutes past the hours of places observing the said adopted times, its reverse end will show simultaneously the minutes past the hours of places observing intermediate times.

JOHN H. WILLIS. 

